A/N: Dear guest reviewer, no, this is not the same baby :)

November 28th 2020

Chapter 333
Their Story of Wonder

Two days earlier

"Morning, Mrs. Friar," Leon Morales appeared in the doorway, even as Maya herself had barely entered the room.

"Hey, Leon," she smiled back at him. "Came in early this morning?"

"Yes, I… I wanted to talk to you about something. If it's too early, I can…" he moved to leave.

"No, please, come in," she moved to intercept him before he'd go. "Come, sit. What's up?" The boy was so much taller than her, giving airs of the likes of Bishop Nicholas, in both stature and form, though Leon was definitely a more quiet and precise sort of person on the whole. His impressive size tended to throw off a lot of people, maybe thinking him to be rough, clumsy, when he was anything but. Right here, he was almost shy, looking down to his art teacher. "Everything alright at home? Your mom…"

"No, she's good," Leon told her, the call to his mother's care working in its own way to get him talking. "It's just that… the program that I applied to, for college next year, they want me to provide a few references, letters… And I was wondering if maybe, if you were able to write one for me."

"I'd be happy to, Leon," she told him, no need to even consider it. "Can you write down all the information for me? If you're not done before class starts, just, you know, use your judgement for when you can finish up, then get to me before you leave?"

"I already have it," he pulled open his bag and pulled a sheet from a folder. "I thought it would be helpful for when I asked people," he explained, passing her the sheet.

"You thought right," she smiled. "I will get on it as soon as possible. When do you need… Ah, never mind, it's here," she nodded to the sheet with a laugh.

It wasn't the first time she'd suddenly found herself looking at a date and feeling like the world had slowed to a stop, forcing her to do some math all at once. But now it happened again, and in no time she was brought to the realization that she was late, and by a few days at that. This had happened before, yes, but so rarely that it always felt like there had to be a motivation it. More than once before, the conclusion had been that maybe she was pregnant, but it had never been right in the end, so what was she supposed to think now?

"Mrs. Friar?" Leon asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh… Well, like I said, I'll get it to you when it's ready. I… Thank you for asking me," she smiled at him, seeking to steer the conversation back on track.

"Well, I just thought… You're one of the only teachers here to actually look at me," Leon told her. "Most of them, I don't think they know more about me except my name, my grades, and that I'm 'the big guy.'"

She was aware of this, to some degree. It was always a bit strange to hear the way some of the other teachers would be speaking about some student or another, and it would take her a while to realize they were talking about someone who was in one of her classes. They would have such a different view of them, and protective as she was of 'her kids,' she'd have to choose between holding her tongue and speaking up. More often than not, she'd land somewhere in the middle, couldn't help it. Leon… She'd heard them talk about him a few times, too.

"The sad thing is that, in a couple months, you'll have graduated, and they won't get to know you the way I do," she gave the boy a smile. He didn't look so sure if he was worth knowing, and if he wasn't her student she might have gone and hugged him. It made her wish that they would have had this conversation so much earlier, that she could have done something more for him in the two short years they'd had together.

Morning moved onward, and she didn't stop to think about the thing that happened earlier until the lunch break. She'd had to get things done in the period between her class with the sophomores and lunch, so only then, as she got to stop and sit, did it all come prodding at her again. There was the sheet Leon had given her, among her things, and it had reminded her of the dreaded 'period math.' It was almost as though the world conspired for her not to even notice when these late days came along, not until later, when she'd then be baited into thinking something was happening when it wasn't. Then everything would right itself, and she'd just have to carry on.

So, what about this time? Except for the tardiness, she saw no reason to think she could have been pregnant, except of course for the fact that she and Lucas were trying to make it happen.

No… No, she wasn't going to get ahead of herself this time. All she'd get in the end would be disappointment. She was going to ignore it, and then when everything went back on track she would have saved herself and Lucas the trouble of unnecessary hope. There, it was settled. She was going to get through the rest of the day and that would be that.

If she wanted to be kept busy so she wouldn't have to think about it, she got her wish and then some. Roman Day came into class after lunch and almost immediately ended up with a nosebleed. It wasn't the first time it had happened, actually the third by now, something to do with some recurring issue with his nose. Even though he was used to dealing with it, the whole thing had inevitably disrupted the rest of that period.

Then, as she looked forward to some quiet time in her back-to-back afternoon free periods, the better to write Leon's letter, someone had gone and pulled the fire alarm, forcing them to evacuate. By the time the fire department had come around and determined there was no fire or any other problem warranting the pull of that lever, everyone had been made to go into the gym, to get to the bottom of who had done it. There was a lot of finger pointing, from many sides over, before finally a sophomore boy admitted he'd done it. He was in Maya's class just that morning, one of those who gave her the impression he'd only been taking art because they figured it would be an easy grade, passing the time. She never made it that easy for them, and the same went for this boy, who had only joined the group this year, and she doubted she'd see him in next year's juniors carrying on. She treated him as she did all her students, but sometimes it just couldn't be helped, and she couldn't force it on him.

It took long enough before everyone – except the boy, who would be suspended by the time his parents came to get him – was sent back to class that Maya didn't get to start the letter as planned. She doubted she could have gotten anything worthy of this letter out of her brain right about then.

Last period, her juniors came along, still talking about the fire alarm. Maya checked with Dakota Day, confirming that Roman was doing alright now. The day's final period felt like it had lost the ability to fly before it even started. Everyone was still too wired, and she couldn't blame them. So, she found videos to show them and hoped they'd at least try to pay attention.

Back home that night, she was spent, and she told Lucas and Sam all about what had happened that afternoon. Sam shared a story of a similar incident back when he'd been in high school. They'd tried to pin it on him, the 'genius' trying to get attention to compensate for his being a few years younger than them. Maya and Lucas had heard about this at the time. They remembered how it had taken a few days before the real culprit was found, how it had gotten to the point where the school genuinely suspected Sam and were about to suspend him if he didn't confess.

"What's that?" Lucas asked, later on, when he came back from walking the dogs and found Maya on the couch with her laptop.

"Letter for Leon Morales, for college admission," she told him without looking up or stopping to type. "Can you read it when I'm done?"

"No problem," he leaned to kiss the side of her face. "I'm going to go shower real quick," he told her before heading up the stairs. Maya turned her head to watch him go after he'd gotten halfway.

The afternoon may have worked overtime to keep her distracted, but now that she was here, she was still thinking about the possibility. What if this time the reason she was late was actually because they had succeeded and she was expecting? Sure, she'd been wrong every time before, but sooner or later there had to be one that was for real, no? This could be the one. She could be pregnant right now.

"No…" she finally shook her head to herself. "Not buying it this time."

"What are you muttering about?" She almost literally bolted in the air, startled to realize Sam was sitting at the other end of the couch. He jumped from her jump. "Sorry, I…"

"H-How long have you been there?"

"I don't know, like a minute or two?" he shrugged. "Do you need me to go?"

"No, no, it's fine, I… It's fine," Maya breathed, pressing at the side of her head like she had an ache. "I was just thinking out loud," she told him, which was not wrong. "Working on a letter for one of my students."

"Yeah, I heard before, when Lucas was here," he told her, holding up his bowl of cereal, which she took to mean he'd been in the kitchen at the time. "He's nice," Sam added, and it took Maya a moment to remember the two would have met on a few occasions related to the decorating of the Fall Festival and at the festival itself.

"Any chance you want to play undercover high school guy and go tell some of the others?" Maya asked him. "You've still got that baby face, they'll buy it."

"Because I'm their age, too," Sam pointed out. "Anyway, I could say the same thing about you."

"And don't you forget it," she gave him her best 'innocent school girl' look.

"See, now you made it weird," Sam laughed.

She finished the letter shortly after Lucas rejoined them, and both he and Sam gave it a read. She still felt like she could rework it, add something to make it feel more personal, more connected, so they'd know Leon the way she did, but both guys insisted that the letter was fine the way it was. The only things to fix were of a grammatical nature, and they were few and far in between.

"Big day today, huh?" Lucas asked Maya after she'd set the laptop aside and Sam went upstairs. Maya looked back at him, chuckling when she caught the look on his face.

"Are you trying to bring me comfort?" she whispered.

"It's a gift," he shrugged, sidling closer. "I can just listen… I can do other things, too."

"Yes, I'm familiar with your work," she reached over, brushing at his still drying hair with her fingers. Hey, Lucas, I'm a few days late… No… She had to wait. "Let's maybe not risk permanently scarring my kid brother," she leaned over to kiss him before standing up, holding her hand out to him to lead them upstairs.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners